Washington State Democratic Party Chair Tina Podlodowski offered the following response to GOP Senator Doug Ericksen’s claim that he can serve his constituents in the state legislature while simultaneously working in Washington DC for the Donald Trump transition team at the Environmental Protections Agency (EPA):

“It’s outrageous for Senator Doug Ericksen to claim that he can responsibly serve the people of Washington State and the people of the 42nd legislative district while also working in Washington D.C. for Donald Trump. He has missed a myriad of votes, is inaccessible to the people who live in his district and is not attending to critical issues here in Washington State, especially solving the education-funding crisis. For example, his D.C. schedule meant he couldn’t even attend the first press conference he set up to try and explain that his D.C. schedule wouldn’t be a problem.

“It’s beyond uncomfortable to watch Senator Ericksen try to justify holding two government jobs and pulling in two taxpayer-funded salaries while doing a terrible job at both. He admits that he’s missing nearly all the meetings of his committee and that he’s not even watching the testimony on bills he sponsored himself – but Ericksen seems to think he still deserves his full legislative salary, on top of all the free meals and gifts he’s pulled in from lobbyists PLUS his paycheck for doing Trump’s dirty work to essentially destroy EPA.

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Once again, WA State is leading the way! Governor Jay Inslee just signed into law automatic voter registration, Election Day registration, pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds, and the state Voting Rights Act. It's a good day for Democracy.